The BurmaNet News: September 15, 19

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------

The BurmaNet News: September 15, 1998
Issue #1096

HEADLINES:
==========
DP-A: MYANMAR OPPOSITION PARTY REITERATES PLEDGE 
AFP: MYANMAR ECONOMY IN A SHAMBLES 
BKK POST: TOUGH LIFE UNDER JUNTA'S RULE 
THE ECONOMIST: NO TIME TO VOICE CRITICISM 
KNU: STATEMENT ON SPDC HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES 
HINDUSTAN TIMES: MYANMAR OFFERED ARMS 
IFR: DKB LOAN MAY LEAD TO US SANCTIONS 
XINHUA: MYANMAR'S FOREIGN TRADE INCREASES 
BKK POST: FATAL ATTRACTIONS 
****************************************************************

DEUTSCHE PRESSE-AGENTUR: MYANMAR OPPOSITION PARTY REITERATES DEFIANT PLEDGE
ON PARLIAMENT
14 September, 1998

The leading opposition party in Myanmar (Burma) Monday reiterated its
pledge to convene a People's Parliament, despite mass arrests of its
members in recent weeks.

Since August 21 when the National League for Democracy (NLD) first
announced it would convene a People's Parliament, Myanmar's military junta
has rounded up hundreds of NLD elected politicians and party functionaries,
depriving the opposition party of a possible quorum.

Last June the NLD called on the self-styled State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) to convene parliament, a move which has been blocked by the
junta since the party won a landslide victory in the May 1990 general
election.

The SPDC refused to do so by the NLD's deadline of August 21, and political
tension has been rising in Yangon ever since as the regime and the
opposition head for a seemingly inevitable showdown.

"As the SPDC did not respond we will call parliament ourselves for the sake
of the rule of law," said an NLD declaration issued Monday night.

It added: "The de-facto government will not be able to solve the prevailing
crises by arbitrarily using its power, by detaining and imprisoning NLD MPs
and members," said the eight-page NLD declaration.

"MPs have every right and responsibility under Section 3 of the Elections
Law to call parliament to protect the future of the nation from
proliferating ills," it added.

The declaration repeated statements made by the junta's previous leader,
Senior General Saw Maung, saying that the military would "return to the
barracks" after the May 1990 election and would leave it up to the newly
elected MPs to draft a new constitution.

Myanmar's junta has blocked the NLD, which won 392 of the 485 contested
seats, from political power on the grounds that it must help draft a new
constitution before passing power over to a civilian government.

"If the SPDC fails to fulfil (Saw Maung's) vow this black mark will remain
in the annals of Myanmar," said the NLD declaration.

The defiant declaration comes at a time when there are growing indications
that the junta intends to deport NLD general secretary and Nobel laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi and to imprison its vice chairman Tin Oo. 

****************************************************************

AFP: MYANMAR ECONOMY IN A SHAMBLES
13 September, 1998 

BANGKOK, Sept 13 (AFP) - Myanmar's economy is in a shambles, with its
already basic infrastructure rapidly deteriorating, food stocks depleting
and foreign investors withdrawing at a rapid pace, analysts warn.

Electricity to some areas of the country have been cut off and in the
capital of Yangon power is cut for anywhere from six to 12 hours in certain
districts.

Authorities have detained currency traders in a bid to stop the kyat
sliding to new lows, while political tensions have destabilised the
isolated state's precarious economy, the analysts said.

International opposition to Myanmar's junta has discouraged foreign
investment and compounded the severity of the problems, they added.

"There isn't really anything going for Burma at this stage," said one
foreign diplomat in Yangon specialising in economic matters, using the
former name for Myanmar.

"Everything has gone downhill, or at least not improved at all. They put a
lot of hope on tourism, but that's not exactly doing well. Besides the
general problems of visiting somewhere like Myanmar, the political
developments aren't conducive to foreign tourism."

Tension between the junta and its opponents has escalated in recent months
and dozens of opposition members were reportedly detained last week.

The junta has also detained some 40 currency traders in Yangon in a bid to
bolster the beleaguered kyat, which is at new lows amid a devastating
regional economic crisis.

The traders, licensed by the country's junta in a de facto endorsement of
the currency black market currency, were held in the hope that reduced
transactions would prevent the artificially pegged unit slipping further,
diplomats in Yangon added.

The kyat was trading around 360 to the dollar on Yangon's black market
Friday but earlier crashed through the 400 mark in some parts of the country.

The black market rate was around 150 to the dollar before Asia became
embroiled in an economic crisis last July. The official rate is six kyat to
the dollar but is almost totally ignored.

Hundreds of power generators have been imported by Myanmar in recent weeks
to counter the electricity shortage, according to official sources, but
with starting prices at about 500 dollars, few in the impoverished country
can afford to buy them.

The power shortage is widely believed to be due to a drop in the water
table because of a lack of rain, as well as shortages of parts and other
problems at electricity plants.

"It is mainly because of water shortage and also due to some technical
problems," a junta spokesman recently said.

"This is not a permanent problem and will be resolved sooner or later."

The lack of rainfall associated with the El Nino weather pattern last year
had also caused food shortages in some areas, driving up the prices for
basic commodities. But diplomats in Yangon said recent heavy rain may abate
the problem and good rice crops were now expected.

The Asian economic crisis now in its second year has further shaken fragile
Myanmar, with many foreign investment projects cancelled or put on hold and
some big spending foreign companies withdrawing from the country altogether.

"The biggest problem is with the hotels, which are mainly foreign
projects," said another western diplomat in Yangon.

"There were too many new hotels to start with, and now there are not many
tourists or business visitors, they are really suffering.

"I've heard several have applied to the government to be allowed to cease
operations, but apparently that has been refused and they have to continue
racking up the losses under the terms of their licence agreements."

The junta has acknowledged some economic difficulties and lays much of the
blame on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for
Democracy, which has campaigned for international boycotts of Myanmar as
well as other trade sanctions.

The opposition, which won 1990 polls by a landslide but has never been
allowed to take power, has also urged tourists to stay away from the
country until the junta accepts change. 

****************************************************************

THE BANGKOK POST: TOUGH LIFE UNDER JUNTA'S RULE 
12 September, 1998

RANGOON, REUTERS

DREAMS OF RICHES REST ON ESCAPING ABROAD

Burma's young men dream of going abroad to come back as a "dollar man".
They have almost no chance of getting rich in an economy which is falling
apart.

The political standoff between the military government and the opposition
means less to Burma's people than their own economic problems. They are
dealing with those constantly.

The street value of the kyat has been steadily sliding since Asia's
financial crisis erupted last year. It has gone from around 260 in January
to around 350. And every time it slips people's lives get a little tougher.

The value of wages has been steadily eroded.

A government worker's typical monthly wage of 1,000 kyat is now worth
around $3 (126 baht).

"It is very hard to live here," said one resident.

Obtaining dollars in cash is just one of many things which is illegal, but
widespread.

Under such dire economic conditions, even doctors demand bribes before
treating a patient, as do police when making arrests, residents say. Simple
things like learning to use a computer are beyond most people's means.

Red tape abounds. Importing goods is complicated. A 10-year-old car can
cost $3,000 (126,000 baht), drivers say.

In the countryside where most people live, life is not much easier.

Farmers have to grow several crops of rice a year on land which can only
support one, and then are required to sell much of it to the government at
low prices. Much of the rice distributed free to government workers is of
low quality.

At night, many of the streets in downtown Rangoon are in darkness.

Candles light up the houses. The city's aging drainage system floods in
heavy rain.

The flow of foreign investment has dwindled to a trickle as its main
sources -- other Asian countries -- grapple with their own financial woes.

Glitzy hotels thrown up around the city in recent years with Asian money
are almost empty.

Unemployment benefit does not exist, nor do trade unions. The unemployed
trawl the streets of Rangoon into the evenings looking for work.

Singapore, Thailand and Japan used to be popular destinations for Burmese
nationals going abroad to make their fortunes.

Despite the delicate situation politically economically, no one expects the
government to relinquish power quickly or easily. People spend their spare
time praying at the pagodas, with little to aspire to.

They feel the government has too much to lose to let go of the reins. 

****************************************************************

THE ECONOMIST: NO TIME TO VOICE CRITICISM 
12 September, 1998 

Tensions are rising in South East Asian capitals

ONCE again security forces are back on the streets of some of South-East
Asia's cities, battling with demonstrators. In others the political
temperature is rising. Indonesia's president, B.J. Habibie, has faced some
of his biggest protests since taking over in May, not only from students in
Jakarta, but also in the provinces (see next story).  In Myanmar several
hundred members of the opposition have been detained. And Cambodia's
strongman, Hun Sen, has again turned on his opponents.

[ ... ]

MYANMAR'S REPRESSION

So far, Myanmar has been spared the violence seen on the streets of
Cambodia and Indonesia. But the suffocating repression which makes that
possible may itself bring a reaction. The ruling junta blames tension on
the opposition National League for Democracy, and especially its leader,
Aung San Suu Kyi, who intends to convene the parliament which was elected
in 1990 but which the junta has refused to recognise.

More than 300 elected NLD delegates and party members have been detained --
or, as the junta prefers it, "invited" to guesthouses -- to prevent the
gathering taking place. The NLD insists it will fulfil its pledge, but has
not made public a date. Miss Suu Kyi's more confrontational stance is not
intended to provoke street battles. Rather it is her latest tactic to bring
the junta to the negotiating table for the dialogue she has demanded ever
since being "released" from house arrest in 1995.

In the capital Yangon, and elsewhere, there are fears of a looming
showdown. Most universities have been closed since student protests in
December 1996. Those back on campus in Yangon have already staged at least
four demonstrations in the past month, about academic conditions and the
political stalemate. One --apparently infiltrated by government hired thugs
-- turned nasty.

Should political deadlock provide a spark, there is plenty of dry tinder.
The economy is in a mess. The junta has stopped paying its foreign debts
and may be bankrupt. And the cease-fires it has signed ending all but one
of Myanmar's 16 ethnic insurgencies are under strain. They were supposed to
bring peace and development to border areas. Instead, the borders, like the
rest of Myanmar, remain desperately poor and ever more restive.

****************************************************************

KNU: STATEMENT ON SPDC HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES 
2 September, 1998 

OFFICE OF THE SUPREME HEADQUARTERS, KAREN NATIONAL UNION, KAWTHOOLE

KNU Press Release No. 27/98, Regarding human Rights Violations by SPDC Troops 

Thaton District
23-8-98 Battalion Commander of the SPDC IB 231, Aung Khaing, beat up
primary school teacher, Saw Maung Thein of Da-oot-kee village, Bi-lin
township, and took him away under arrest. He was still not released up to
this day. It was learnt that the SPDC troops arrested and took him away
when he was seen reading a copy of statement, issued by the NDF.

22-9-98 Battalion Commander of the SPDC IB 231, Aung Khaing, summoned to a
meeting, the Lay-kay, Ler-klor, Sar-baw , Pa-ya-yaw , Kyo-waing,
Baw-nor-kee, No-ka-neh, Nya-po-kee, Ler-ka-da, pawt-kee and tee-par-doh-ta
East & West villagers from 4 village tracts of (1)Lay-kay, (2) Kyo waing,
(3) Ta-oot-kee, and (4) Yo-kla-kyay. He mixed the blood obtained by
pricking the finger tips of the villagers and his troops, with water and
made the villagers to drink the mixture as "loyalty water" after swearing
that "they might meet with misery and violent death," if they revolted
against the SPDC.

Tavoy-Mergui District
13-7-98 Troops from the SPDC IB 401, shot to death Ye-bon villager, Saw lah
Say, 26,after alleging that his brothers and sisters were in the Karen
insurgency.

18-7-98 Troops from SPDC IB 230, forcibly drove out Taw-ta-Li villagers
from their village.

24-7-98 The SPDC troops arrested Taw-ta-leh villagers Kri Talat, Saw Dee
Po, Saw Toh Dah, Mya Ta Roe, Saw Baler, Saw Karay, 63, and Saw Da Kleet Po.
The troops then spread the rumor that the enemy had shot them to death.

11-8-98 The Deputy Commander of SPDC IB 372, Maung Maung and group,
arrested and took away Baw-ga-doe villager, Kyor Ni, and shot him to death,
without reason, at Tee-ya village.

20-8-98 Troops from SPDC IB 285, came to Ba-na-mee village and looted 20
chickens and some belonging from the villagers.

22-8-98 The SPDC IB 285, demanded porters from Myo-haung, Ba-na-mee and
Yay-sha villages. As the villagers did not dare to go, they had to collect
150,000 Kyat per village and gave a total of 450,000 Kyat to the SPDC IB
285. On the same day, Deputy Commander, Kyaw Thein, and Company Commander,
Ba Thein, demanded 5 porters from Bay-sha village. As no one dared to go,
the villagers had to collect 250,000 Kyat and gave it to them. Similarly,
troops from the same battalion , again, demanded 5 porters from Bay-sha
village. As no one dared to go, the villagers had to hire porters from
Pa-Lauk village, by paying 150,000 Kyat.

Words & Abbreviations: KNU = Karen National Union (Political wing of the
Karen resistance); SPDC = State  Peace and Development Council (military
dictatorship of Burma); IB = Infantry Battalion; Kyat = Name of Burmese
currency

****************************************************************

HINDUSTAN TIMES: MYANMAR OFFERED ARMS FOR LENDING A HELPING HAND 
11 September, 1998 

New Delhi

India has offered to supply Myanmar state-of-art 5.56 mm assault rifle,
radars, electronic warfare and naval communication equipment and the HAL
manufactured aircraft following Yangon's concerted efforts to help New
Delhi tackle insurgency in the North-East.

Cabinet secretariat sources said this offer was made by Defence secretary
Ajit Kumar to Brigadier Kyaw Win, Deputy director of Myanmar Defence
Services Intelligence, while on an official visit to India.  Mr. Kumar
pointed out during the meeting that Yangon should understand New Delhi's
security concern and not permit any party to indulge in anti-India
activities. The defence secretary was apparently referring to North-East
insurgent and Chinese activity on Myanmar's soil.

The move to export defence equipment comes close on the heels of the
success of Operation Leech (Feb.11),Operation Poorab (May.31) and seizure
of a rebel speed boat in August by the Indian Army, the Navy and the
Airforce in close coordination with the intelligence agencies.  All these
operations were conducted off the coast of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Although the exact details of Operation Leech may never be known, authentic
information indicates that it was a sting operation of the Indian Army.
With clearance from the highest levels, he Indian Army managed to
infiltrate the Arakan and Karen groups after the nexus between the Myanmar
insurgents with the Indian militants was established.  During the operation
,the Andaman sea passage for transshipment of arms coming from Laos and
Thailand was choked, a huge cache of arms seized and the Arakan and Karen
National Union insurgents either killed or apprehended.

The Narcotics Control Bureau sources say that in operation Poorab, the
Indian armforces intercepted two Thai vessels near Narcondam Island and
seized 50 kilograms of heroin of Myanmarese origin along with the large
shipment of arms coming from Thailand. It is understood that last month the
United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) approached the Indian
authorities for more details on the drug trafficking along this route.

Operation Poorab was conducted on specific intelligence provided by Gen Win
during his visit to India in March . He had made a visit India earlier in
November last year. During the March visit, he met foreign secretary
K.Raghunath, Defence secretary Ajit Kumar, Army chief V.P. Malik, Home
secretary B.P.Singh and top officials of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

According to Gen Win, arms suppliers would conduct a dry run from Thailand
to Cox Bazar by the end of March. However, intelligence spoke of the route
being altered as a gun-runners intended to move through Myanmarese water in
the vicinity of Coco Island. Yangon informed that the run was successful
then a sizable arms shipment would be smuggled in May, 1998.

However, in August the forces only managed to capture a speedboat as the
Arakan rebels managed to slip away with the arms.

Although the success of these operations has been a major setback to gun
running on Thailand-Bangladesh-Myanmar-North-East route, anti-India
insurgents still manage to get supply of sophisticated arms.

Cabinet secretariat sources indicate that until April, 1998 as many as five
shipments of arms had been transported from Ranong in Thailand to Cox Bazar
for the use of North-East insurgents.

****************************************************************

INTERNATIONAL FINANCING REVIEW: DKB LOAN MAY LEAD TO US SANCTIONS 
11 September, 1998 

[Editor's Note: Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank is located in The Netherlands]

Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank appears to have stepped into a grey area of US
sanctions law by lending to the local partner in a joint venture gas
project in Myanmar. The bank is believed to be subject to the same lending
ban to the country as US banks because of its operations in San Francisco.

DKB lent US$20m at a price of more than 300bp over Libor to Myanmar Oil &
Gas Enterprise, the local sponsor of the Yetagun Gas project in the Andaman
Sea. The foreign sponsors are Premium Oil of the UK, Petronas of Malaysia,
Nippon Oil, and PTT Exploration and Production of Thailand.

Under US Executive Order 13047, US entities are prohibited from
"participation in royalties, earning and profits from the economic
development of resources" in Myanmar. DKB may have transgressed the order's
facilitation clause, which states that US entities cannot facilitate
investment in the country by others. The bank's presence in the US is the
problem area for DKB.

DKB's loan is part of a US$126m nine-year facility, which is believed to be
the only US-dollar fundraising to have emerged from Myanmar this year and
is a huge amount of money for a country whose foreign reserves are believed
to total less than US$100m. The loan is guaranteed by Myanmar's Ministry of
Finance, with additional security over an escrow account in Singapore.

The other lenders to Myanmar Oil & Gas are Mitsubishi Corp (US$49m),
Malaysia Insurance (US$15m) , Itocho Corp (US$15m), Thai Exim Bank (US$15m)
and Nichimen (US$10m). None of these is bound by the US sanctions since
they do not have financial activities in the US.

The revelation about DKB came as the World Bank on September 2 formally
ruled out further lending to Myanmar after it refused to service interest
payments on its US$720m credit line.

The country is believed to be in arrears to the tune of about US$14m.
According to a banker in the country, interest re---payments ceased
following Finance Minister Khin Maung Thein's "disappointment" at being
refused further loans during a meeting with World Bank chiefs last
September in Hong Kong.

Bankers said the World Bank's announcement put paid to any hopes the
country might have of privately raised foreign capital for its projects or
corporates - a market that has, in any case, been almost non-existent.

Growing political objections to Myanmar have precluded most international
banks from lending to the country. Chase Manhattan Sai and Citibank were
forced to pull out of a US$100m one-year loan for Thai company PTT
Exploration & Production pcl in July because funds were to be used for the
construction of a pipeline to Myanmar. Some Singaporean and Malaysian banks
are rumoured to have to Myanmar firms but refused to comment on their
activities.

Banks have also been putt off lending to Myanmar because of massive
differentials between official and black market exchange rates, and lax and
volatile currency control regulations.

"Officially there are six kyat to the dollar, but on the black market you
can get 360-370 kyat," said a banker in the capital Yangon (Rangoon). "Some
days, we can't exchange kyat for dollars; on others we can, and as for the
future, we don't know."

Of greater significance than the impact on lending to Myanmar, say bankers,
was the broader, negative implications for Asia of the country's failure to
service its debts. It is believed to be the first country in the region in
recent years to fail in its obligations to the World Bank, and joins a
rogues' gallery including Iraq, Liberia and Syria, which also have
protracted arrears.

"It's worrying because the assumption with a co-financing structure has
been that people never default on World Bank or World Bank-affiliate
loans," a banker said. "But I suppose [the World Bank] has given the
appropriate response by cutting Myanmar off."

****************************************************************

XINHUA (CHINA): MYANMAR'S FOREIGN TRADE INCREASES 
13 September, 1998 

Myanmar's foreign trade, including the border trade, in the first six
months of this year sharply increased over the same period of last year.
According to latest official economic indicators, the total volume of
foreign trade in the period was 1.898 billion U.S. Dollars, 424 million
dollars or 28.8 percent more than that of last year which was 1.474 billion
dollars.  Export in the first half of this year amounted to 513 million
dollars, registering a trade deficit of 872 million dollars, while that in
the same period of last year was 384 million dollars, indicating a deficit
of 706 million dollars.  Of the 1.385 billion dollars worth of imported
commodities, the value of capital goods was 648 million dollars,
intermediate goods 211 million dollars and consumer goods 526 million
dollars.  Of the total import value, the state sector shared 435 million
dollars, while the private sector represented 950 million dollars.
Myanmar's main exports are agricultural, marine and wood products. Of the
513 million dollars' worth of commodities exported in the first half of
this year, the state sector shared 130 million dollars, while the private
sector represented 383 million dollars.

****************************************************************

THE BANGKOK POST: FATAL ATTRACTION 
13 September, 1998 by Andrew Drummond 

COURT HEARING SET: Prosecutors in the northern district of Fang in Chiang
Mai this week announced they had brought charges against two Thai
businessmen who allegedly organised the abduction of 21 children and 12
adults of a Burmese long-necked Padaung hilltribe and forced them to
perform in a "human zoo" for tourists. The suspects will go to court on
November 17. Here, we investigate the plight of the Padaung.

"Today God has come for sure," said 67-year-old Mu Kyeh, hurriedly packing
woven cloth and pots and pans into large plastic bags. Outside in the small
hamlet of bamboo huts, dozens of police and militia thronged about. "Hurry,
hurry. Don't bother packing your food. You will have plenty where you are
going."

"Move quickly. Move quickly, don't you want to go home?" urged one of the
policemen.

Milling around her were 21 children and 11 other adults hurriedly handing
up their belongings to helpers loading a six-wheeled truck. Brass rings on
their necks catching the rays of the midday sun gave off blinding flashes.

In the tiny hamlet of Baan San Thon Du, near Thaton in Mai Ai district of
Chiang Mai, hugging up against the Burmese border, tourists stood
open-mouthed at the scenes around them. They had come to see the "giraffe
women," the Padaung, the famous longnecked women of Burma, paying tourist
operators cash dollars to view the odd looking hilltribe women from Burma's
Kayah State, who extended their necks and depressed their shoulders, by
winding brass rings above their collar bones to their chin.

What they witnessed instead in March this year was the closure of a human zoo.

The exhibits on show, the 33 Padaung, a whole community, had allegedly been
kidnapped from Burma and been made to work for over 18 months for a Chiang
Mai man who had turned one of the world's rarest tribes into a show for
tourists.

A young Thai tourist guide quickly ushered his Swedish charges back into
their tour minibus.

"We should go now," he said, abandoning the rehearsed spiel and giving one
of his charges a little push along. "You don't want to stay. This is not a
happy place," his embarrassment was apparent.

"Oh they are just being moved somewhere else," another guide said to his
group of elderly French matrons.

Inside the perimeter young children picked up their own mattress beds in
the rush to leave. "Raise your hands if you want to go," asked Zaw Thet, a
Padaung assistant to the Karenni Refugee Committee, which helps administer
camps 200 miles southwest of Mae Hong Son. The Padaung are a sect of the
Karenni or Red Karen.

On a previous trip to the camp he said had been turned back at gunpoint.

"Yaak klap. Yaak klap tuk khon (Everybody wants to go home)," came the
shouts in Thai as all raised their hands in the air. And Zaw Thet let them
keep their arms raised as he looked into the eyes of the local police and
government officials to make his point. A little boy rolled up his bed and
stomped out.

By nightfall the 33 Padaung, 20 of them children, were being looked after
in the Viengping Boys Hoine in Chiang Mai.

Just how such a camp could be operated for over 18 months remains an
unfortunate testimony to practices out of sight and sound of central
government.

News of the alleged kidnap and enslavement and their final rescue in March
this year was wired round the world.

Eyes are now focused on a trial beginning in November in the northern
district of Fang to see in northern society whether it is possible for
people with no money and few rights to win their case against the camp
manager.

In an interesting development some officials who allegedly assisted in the
set-up of the camp may be asked to give evidence for the prosecution.

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, through his Deputy Secretary Ladawan
Wongsriwong ordered the camp's closure which took place on March 5.

The government first heard of the camp through reports in the London times,
and referred to the Foreign Ministry in Thailand.

When Thai Foreign Ministry Director General of Information Surapong
Chaiyanan, now ambassador to Greece, first read of them he said: "What is
this? Some sort of concentration camp?"

There was no electric fence at Baan San Thon Du, but guards ringed the
perimeter and communicated with each other with walkie talkies, according
to the Padaung.

Those who dared wander out of the camp claimed they were slapped and
beaten. There was no way they could merge into a crowd or even pose as a
Thai in the hope of getting to their relatives 200 miles southwest.

They were scared of the local police. There were no schools or medical
facilities.

So when one woman, Ma Bee, became ill she was only given a paracetamol
derivative. When she died she was quickly buried in a shallow grave nearby.
The Padaung say with simplicity: "She died of a broken heart."

Thana Nakluang promoted the camp in his own newspaper glorifying the rich
cultural heritage of the "giraffe women" but police claimed his only
consideration was how much money he could make form them.

When he was arrested Thana said it was all a plot by businessmen in Mae
Hong Son, where other long-necked women can be seen in villages.

"The want the money all for themselves," he retorted angrily.

The Padaung do not know when they first started putting on rings to extend
their necks.

"We've just always done it," said Mu Kyeh. But she offered one folktale.

Many centuries ago, a beautiful woman from one of their villages was
dragged from her home by a 'tiger. She was killed when the tiger tore her
throat apart.

Since then, it is said, the women were ordered to wear the brass rings.

In their culture the women with the most rings are perceived as the most
beautiful.

At the age of five the girls go to the village spirit doctor. By cooking
chicken bones and seeing how the bones align, he decides whether a girl
should wear the rings. She then does so for a trial period. If she has no
allergy or ill affects then she will wear the rings to her grave, every so
often adding another to enhance her beauty. Each occasion is a solemn
ceremonial affair.

One belief which has gained widespread acceptance is that their necks will
collapse and they will die if their rings are taken away.

This is untrue. Indeed they have to take the rings off each time they add a
new length of brass. which is wound round their necks. When they crossed
into Thailand only the oldest women kept their coils on. But the long-neck
practice is dying out.

Their original animist tradition wanes as more and more Padaung have turned
to Christianity. The children are also beginning to see cities and know how
odd they would look outside their own environment.

"Maybe soon there will not be any of us left at all," said Mu Kyeh.

"We have seen people we have never seen before: inglai, (westerners, from
the English who colonised Burma), Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Thai.

"They all come and laugh at us or smile in such a way that we feel odd.

"My grandchildren don't want to go to school in cities where people will
stare at them all the time. Before they considered themselves special. Now
they have seen many fancy things, cameras and videos and television, maybe
they will not want this life any more."

It was, however, their unusual looks which led Mu Kyeh and her relatives to
being lured from their homes in Panpet, 20 miles south of the Kayah State
capital of Loikaw in May 1996 by a Karenni tourist guide based in Thailand
working for Thana.

Thana is the publisher of a newspaper called San Seri News, and the owner
of a karaoke hostess club in the Chiang Mai Holiday Inn.

The Padaung, considered friends of insurgents by the Burmese military
government, had previously been moved out of their home in the Kayah Hills
and forced to live in a township under Burmese army control. They easily
fell for the guide's promise to take them to their relatives in refugee
camps near Mae Hong Son.

But waiting for them at the border was Thana's No.2, Rakkiat Siriwilai, a
Thai Black Muser, with his own white pick-up truck, leading a convoy of
4x4s. The Padaung were allegedly trucked not to the refugee camps but to a
jungle area near the Thai-Burmese border, opposite the Shan State at Thaton.

Thana went to the local district office with a story of how he wished to
help the unfortunate and penniless giraffe women who had wandered into the
district. He presented his scheme for a model tourist village at Baan San
Thon Do.

It would benefit all and -- being a day's trip from Chiang Mai -- would
attract a lot of tourists who would normally visit the three villages of
long-necked Padaung refugees in Mae Hong Son.

As foreigners are not allowed to work in the tourist industry in Thailand,
labour department and immigration officials granted documents for them as
fruit pickers. The 67-year-old Mu Kyeh, stooping with age, her head held up
by 21 brass rings, must have looked a little odd as she turned up for her
work permit.

The work permits were issued without question, describing them as a farm
labourers.

Soon, tourist agencies throughout northern Thailand and Bangkok were
advertising the village of giraffe women.

The Padaung claimed Thana paid each of them in rations of rice and cooking
oil, plus the equivalent of about 3,000 baht per family a month depending
on his whim, and on their behaviour.

In Mae Hong Son, members of the Karen Refugee Committee knew about the
missing 34 Padaung from radio messages sent by the Karenni. Units of the
Karenni Army had monitored the Padaung movements as they moved southwest
through Kayah State but lost them at the Thai border.

It was audio tapes delivered by sympathetic tourists that notified them
where they were detained and the conditions of captivity.

The tapes started with Padaung music, but when the singing stopped the
captive Padaung begged for rescue.

"I would rather die than continue to live here," one woman grieved.

Zaw Thet complained to the authorities in Mae Hong Son, who in turn
complained to the authorities in Chiang Mai and Mai Ai.

The authorities in Chiang Mai ordered the arrest of seven Padaung for
working illegally, and then handed them straight back into the charge of
Thana, who sent them back to work again.

With the Padaung in his official custody -- as the bail guarantor -- he had
a guaranteed workforce throughout a court process.

Thana said in a television interview: "I am not scared of the courts. It's
for the benefit of everyone. It's money. It's money for Chiang Mai.
Everybody knows."

He denied they were captives: "They are free and can go whenever they want."

It was the persistence of Sudarat Sereewat, secretary of Thailand's
Coalition to Fight Against Child Exploitation and a member of Thailand's
Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Human Rights, which finally closed
the camp.

Her doggedness enabled journalists to get at the information, which was
assessed by independent government officials. At times, though, it seemed
they were reluctant to believe the obvious.

It was only when Ladawan Wongsriwong went to the camp to see for herself -
and while there she was threatened by a guard with a bayonet - that the
camp was finally closed.

The captive Padaung have now been returned to Camp 3 Refugee camp in the
province of Mae Hong Son, near where they crossed the Burmese border. They
will stay to testify at the forthcoming trial.

Their long-term fate remains in the balance. They remain illegal immigrants
subject to deportation to Burma, a country which, when it is not treating
them as rebels, advertises them as a tourist attraction on its own Internet
Web site.

****************************************************************